Rio Ferdinand believes Lisandro Martinez is the best ball-playing centre-back in the world following his performance in Manchester United's 5-2 win over Ipswich Town at Old Trafford.
United conceded twice against the newly-promoted side, but a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick helped the Red Devils come from behind. An own goal from Jacob Greaves and a lob from Bryan Mbeumo completed the scoring for Michael Carrick's side, who bounced back from their opening-weekend defeat to Hull City.
Martinez praised despite late error
Carrick made four changes for the win, with Martinez making his first start of the season alongside Harry Maguire in central defence. A mistake saw the Argentine caught in possession in added time, with Julio Enciso stealing the ball and setting up Chuba Akpom for a late consolation.
Despite that, Ferdinand was keen to praise the 28-year-old post-match, insisting there is still no better centre-back in world football with the ball at their feet.
'Martinez, by the way, we conceded two goals today, but what I would like to talk about is his ability on the ball,' Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel. 'I would go as far as to say Martinez is the best centre-back on the ball in the game right now.'
Ferdinand on United's season
'I'm trying to think of someone else better who can break the line with passing, who can beat the press when someone comes to him and just move it, take the ball in tight areas; Martinez takes some beating,' he added. 'He was phenomenal on the ball today in terms of his passing, like top tier.'
United will look to build on their first win of the season next weekend away at Everton, but Ferdinand insisted that nobody at the club is thinking about a potential title challenge this season.
'I can't remember the year, but we lost to a team that was promoted [on opening day] and we won the league that year,' he added. 'We won the league that year! It can happen, but it ain't going to happen this year: Arsenal are going to win the league.'
Carrick pleased with mentality
'Man United aren't here to win the league. The people that are running the club and Michael Carrick, as much as they would like to, in there most serious thoughts they are not saying we are title challengers right now,' Ferdinand said. 'With their serious hat on, outside of press conferences and talking in public, they are not thinking that.
'Sensible, realistic heads are thinking about a year of consolidation, a chance to finish in the Champions League [places] is a must, that's the lowest, and if we get a trophy on top of that what a season we've had. That's where Man United are right now, the standards over the years have been higher than that and we've got to get back to that, but that takes time, it doesn't happen overnight.'
Elsewhere, Carrick praised his side's mentality after their come-from-behind win, telling Sky Sports: 'It was a good win. It was a really good win in the end. We played some really good football. The biggest thing today was the mentality of the boys to overcome setbacks.
'We're going to have them and it depends on how you deal with them. I was really pleased with that. It's easy to look at the result but the mentality and the stubbornness really pleased me. We controlled the game pretty well for the most part. A lot of our play was looking on the way to how we wanted it to look. The boys took it on really well and we were fabulous.'
